Welcome to Nowhere, Pennsylania
by DoubleDigits
Summary: When Caleb Rivers moved to Rosewood, he didn't expect to become attached to a certain sassy blonde. What happens when he becomes entangled in the mess called "Hanna Marin's life"? (Caleb's POV of Season 1, starting a little before 1x14).
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE: Welcome to Nowhere, Pennsylvania**

"_Don't_ keep the change," I tell the driver as I hand him twenty dollars. Fresh dollars.

His greedy, brown eyes stare at the cash before snapping to me. I raise my eyebrows, extending a hand impatiently for the money I should get back. The sleazy man groans before pulling out his nearly empty wallet and digging through it to find me five dollars. I need all the money I can get - I'm especially not going to waste it on a slimeball like this. I earned that money, whether or not fair and square.

"_Thank you_," I mock, snatching the green out of his fat hands and exiting the blue cab. Opening the trunk, I take out my two back-packs and watch the man drive away as soon as I shut the back.

"Caleb Rivers?" a voice behind me demands. I pucker my lips before slowly turning around with my charming smile.

"Yes?" I ask, raising my eyebrows again as I tug my home back-pack over my shoulder.

"I'm Janet Reeds, your new . . . foster mother," Janet drawls, her voice harsh. "Welcome to your home for the next few months." I immediately know what sort of foster home I got landed with. The kind that just wants the money; the kind I've had plenty of.

_Yeah,_ I snort to myself, _welcome to Nowhere, Pennsylvania. _


	2. Chapter 2

A huge thank-you to all my fans from Pretty Little Liars! If you enjoy my writing, go check out The Way We Connected and What We Have is Real, which seem to be my two hits here! Thanks again!

Additional stuff:

- Disclaimer: Does it look like I own any part of Pretty Little Liars? Yeah, I didn't think so.  
- The dialogue here is almost directly from the show - most of it, at least. I will be adding a few extra scenes.  
- I will try and update frequently, since I've already written all the dialogue up to 1x20 and from 1x14. Literally everything exchanged between Hanna and Caleb is down in my notes. I love Haleb so much! Why hasn't anyone done this idea before? Or even a Toby's version? It's not that hard . . . .  
- This won't be edited. This is all the natural shit, so yeah. Sorry for the mistakes, but I'm only twelve years old.

Thanks for reading my fan-fictions!

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO: A Sketchy Business**

_. . . . Two Months Later . . . ._

I lean against the stairs of the high school I've been attending for the past month and a half: Rosewood High. My hands are tucked in the front pockets of my old, tattered jeans, and my eyes keenly observe any and all students passing by, searching for those with cash to burn.

There are two different types of people in Rosewood, Pennsylvania. The snotty, rich kind, and the desperately poor kind. An example of both would be those two friends nearby; the blonde who's probably wealthy and the Asian chick who wears jeans that match mine. Both of which are stealing glances at me, but I decide to ignore them.

Watching a few teenagers my age pass by, I bite my lip, thinking about my life for the past two months. Janet and I immediately despised each other, and agreed to make a deal.

The deal was fair enough. I found somewhere else to live (with no support from my foster "mother") and I only show up at Janet's house on the days the social worker visits. In return, when Janet gets paid, she gives me some of that money just so long as I keep quiet and attract no attention.

For a while, I drifted around town, sometimes sleeping on the bus benches, sometimes on the actual bus, and most of the time in the park. There might have been once or twice on a cold night that I broke into someone's attic and slept there.

A few times, it was because I was scared to live on the streets. Hearing the things that happened to other kids in my grade makes me almost regret my deal with Janet, and I wasn't afraid to admit my fear.

But now I had settled for the one perfect place to live in: the school. Some kids might think it's crazy. Who would want to spend more time at freaking school than they need to? Reasonable question, but the better answer would be why?

Well, when you're practically homeless, where you go doesn't matter. What it provides does, however.

The school library owns some comfortable chairs, and the principal's couch is pretty cozy if you're in the right position. They also have vending machines with unhealthy foods and sodas (the best). If I was feeling sick from the sweets, I could just get water from the fountain, or coffee from the teacher's lounge. If somehow I got injured, the nurse's office was close to the library. What more could I ask for?

My thoughts about my "home" are abruptly cut short by one of my customers. "Hey, man!" Derek Mones approaches me, clapping hands. He was a pretty nice guy and fun to joke around with (he actually understood my sarcasm), but not quite a friend.

Derek's having a couple issues with his girlfriend. Apparently, since she's a senior and Derek's a junior, she feels too old. I've seen them arguing in school . . . a lot. Derek wants me to crack into the chick's phone to see if she's been having any contact with her ex, Jordan.

It won't surprise me if she is cheating on Derek. The way she dresses and the things I've discovered on this phone proves it. I feel a slight pity for Derek; I know he has strong feelings for Vanessa so giving him the news is going to be difficult.

"Hey," I mutter back, shifting on my feet.

"So, how's the phone going?" Derek grins. I think that he hopes I tell him that Vanessa is completely loyal to him. Again, the pity in me rises for the dude.

"Umm, not well," I reluctantly admit. Some of his smile fades away, and he frowns.

"What exactly does that mean?" Derek demands.

I sigh, pulling out the chick's phone and scrolling through the texts until I find the one that makes me so sure. I show it to Derek, who snatches the phone and squints at the text as if it will change the fact that Vanessa is having sex behind his back.

Glancing over at Derek's scowl, I try not to comfort the poor guy. He looks like he's going to cry. Derek's nose is already a puffy red.

"Hey, man . . . . Maybe it was a mistake-?" I begin but am cut off.

"No," Derek firmly states. "It's not. I'm not going to give that kid she's sexting the satisfaction of - of - I don't even know! Thanks for this, Caleb, man. Seriously. Without you, I wouldn't have known." Before I can nod, he storms off probably to find Vanessa.

_Great._ Now I'm probably going to have to deal with the wrath of the new ex, I think to myself as I appreciatively watch two hot girls stroll up the stairs.

Sighing, I begin to go inside, noticing the blonde before has separated from her Asian friend and is right behind me. Bumping shoulders with some nerd, I stroll to class, entering Biology just as the bell rings.

Everyone takes their seats and the teacher quickly explains the new lesson before handing out the worksheet and sitting at his desk like they always do. Taking a deep breath, I start on the first question:

_What does the term 'area of low concentration' mean?_

How the hell am I supposed to know this?

* * *

"Caleb, wait up!" that one girl, Emma, calls. I take a deep breath before pausing and reluctantly turning around to face her. "Didn't you see me wave at you?" The girl smiles.

I force a grin and raise my eyebrows. "I saw you. Need something?"

"My phone. Is it done?" Emily demands. "Did you crack the code or not?"

My eyes quickly dart around and I frown. Does she have to say it so loud? "Hey, let's do this Monday," I suggest.

Emma frowns. "You said it'd be ready today."

I hate the persistant customers. They are really annoying. Emily sure is demanding a lot. Why does she need to break into True North's system, anyway?

"I said I would make it happen. I don't give dates," I growled, glaring. "Alright, you want speedy delivery? Call Best Buy." Emily sends me an exhausperated look, rocking on her heels.

"What if I gave you forty more bucks? Would that make it happen any faster?" she presses.

Wow, desperate much? It's not like I'm going to refuse the offer. The more the merrier, right?

"Let me put it this way." I lean forward. "Yes."

I watch as she digs through her purse, balancing the dry cleaners bag over her shoulder. My hand reaches out to stop her midway.

"Yo, not here," I mutter, cocking my head in the direction I was going. Emily understands and begins to follow me as I drag my newly-repaired bike along. "Walk with me."

"So, what's the rush?" I remark, watching her facial expressions. Emily looks away.

"I want to speak to my friend. Tonight," she casually says, shrugging innocently.

"Where is she? Rehab?" I snort, planning on looking up True North later.

"It's not rehab. It's more like...," Emma begins before stopping. I turn to face her. "Who told you it's rehab?"

I grin. "Nice, cushy town like this? I'm guessing rehab is the new boarding school," I comment, raising my eyebrows.

Emily defends, "Well, it's not. She's not a pothead. She shouldn't even be there."

She? Was this mysterious girl also friends with that blonde chick? I wonder what she did. Thinking about everything that has happened since I arrived two months ago, it was probably bad.

People here are murdered, run over by cars, accused of crimes, and whatnot. It's not the ideal town.

My grin widens as I shake my head and begin to walk again. That's what they all say. No one is supposed to be there.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Emma asks, "Where did you move here from?"

I pause, mocking her by cocking my head. "Why do you care?"

Emily's eyes harden with determination. "Why can't you tell me?" she counters.

"I didn't say I couldn't," I teased. "Just might cost you an extra forty bucks."

I know I'm totally ripping her off, but even though I barely know her, I can tell she's desperate. The blonde chick, Hanna, wasn't even close to being as needy.

Emily huffs and rolls her eyes.

"Alright, fine. I'll give you a discount. You can hear my whole life story for a chilli cheese dog," I announce, pretending to be serious.

Emma frowns, glaring at me. "You don't have time to eat. You have a deadline," she commands, turning around and walking away.

My mouth drops open, and I scoff, "I chew fast!" As Em hurries away, I blink in an almost offended way. Shaking my head, I stroll back to school.

Fingering the extra forty I got as I sat in the library, I decided it was time to get to work. ASAP.


End file.
